Vitaquest International has been certified as an FSSC 22000 company by global certifying body, DNV GL Business Assurance. The certification means that Vitaquest conforms to all industry related statutory and regulatory requirements as outlined by the FSSC 22000 International Standard for Food Safety Management Systems. This standard integrates ISO 22000 principles of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) with GMP prerequisite programs.

The certification comes after a two-year process that included numerous facilities upgrades and internal process improvements. As a manufacturer of nutraceuticals and functional foods, Vitaquest said it is now the first company of its kind in the U.S. to have achieved FSSC 22000 Food Safety System Certification—as a part of its continuing drive to lead the industry in quality and safety practices. FSSC 22000 is recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GSFI) and is based on existing ISO Technical Standards.

According to Patrick Brueggman, CEO of Vitaquest, the move to achieve Food Safety System Certification was driven by the company’s mission to provide the highest levels of product safety in the nutraceuticals and functional foods market. “At Vitaquest, we want to lead our industry in the development and implementation of innovative, robust quality systems for consumer products. We recognized that the nutraceutical industry is in a drive to enhance safety and build consumer trust, and realized it was time to become food safety system certified. FSSC 22000 is the most advanced food safety system regarding what people eat and that’s where we want to start,” he said. “I want to say that I’m very proud of our entire organization in achieving this certification. While the investment in consultants, equipment and infrastructure was substantial, it was the dedication of our entire quality team led by Tom Lawson that created the culture where ongoing and continually improving quality lives,” he added.

FSSC certification is a natural outgrowth of Vitaquest’s dedication to quality and safety. In April 2019, Vitaquest formalized its TotalQ Total Quality Commitment initiative. Going beyond traditional quality programs, major platforms of the TotalQ Total Quality Commitment include sourcing, ingredient integrity, product design, QA systems and final product assurance.

Vice President of Quality Operations & Food Safety Tom Lawson said of TotalQ: “Our work on quality takes cGMP as a starting point. We look at every aspect of our business and how it affects final product quality and the consumer experience. Our decades of work in this area put us in a position where we were able to move to FSSC certification. We do between 30 and 50 on-site quality audits with customers a year,” he said. “The achievement of FSSC certification was a company-wide effort. And we’re just getting started. That’s why we like to say that we are delivering the next standard of quality.”